Eclairs

Saturdays are always days of cooking one thing or another here on the farm. One week it could be a really long cheese recipe that takes up the majority of the day or it could just be a quick and easy recipe.

Today is all about the easy and simple stuff. I seem to have the worst habit of getting ideas from the Cooking shows on TV….not good but usually the results are tasty!

Yesterday one of the shows covered cream puffs. I haven’t had them in years and oh boy, oh boy did they look good. So…needless to say, today is cream puff day.

To those of you that didn’t know, Eclairs are just an elongated version of those cream puffs that we all adore. Instead of a spoonful of dough, you pipe the dough into a length of about 4 inches or so.

Elongated Cream Puff Shells

You bake them up and then cut just a little bit of the top off, scoop out any of the insides that may be in the way.

Remove the insides or leave for a little texture

And then after they cool for a few minutes, load them full of filling or pudding.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine water and butter in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Remove from heat, add all of flour and stir vigorously with a wooden spoon. Return to moderate heat, continue stirring until the dough forms a ball and pulls away from the sides. Remove from heat, allow to cool for about 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating vigorously until the mixture is smooth.

Pipe or spoon onto a cookie sheet (I used a spoon and ladled out to about 4 inches in length) and bake for about 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven, gently cut of tops and cool on a baking rack.

Heat the milk in a heavy bottom sauce pan until very hot but not boiling. You will notice small bubbles forming on the sides of the sauce pan. Mix sugar, flour, and salt in a bowl. Stir in the hot milk and beat until well blended. Pour back into the pan and heat over low heat for 4-5 minutes, continue vigorous stirring during this step. It will become very thick and smooth. At this point, add the yolks and cook for a few more minutes. Remove from heat and begin cooling. Stir from time to time until the mixture is cool but not cold. Add the vanilla and mix throughly.